


Keeping the Peace (...and the Art of Killing Demonic Entities)

by orphan_account



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, It's gonna be a wild ride, M/M, buckle up you guys, other characters to be added later, tags will likely be updated because i'm a forgetful doof
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-08 10:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11079375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Human-Vampire spats and killings are on the rise again, and even rarer there are whispers of a coven or two being formed, years after the near eradication of the species of witches.Enter scene, Patrick Stump, a 20-something human who messed with the wrong kind of magic and may or may not have released a powerful demon figure on the Great City only to find himself passed out in a puddle of blood on vampire territory.What a great way to keep the peace.





	1. a brief history

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all! a brief disclaimer as this is my first work in the "bandom": i mean no discomfort or ill to those names and faces for which these characters are based. i've had this story idea in my head for a long time, and these were the available vessels to tell it with. i hope they're all having lovely days and never find my corner of the internet <3
> 
> and now onto the story!
> 
> (this work is not beta'd mistakes are my own)

Vampires. Humans. Witches. 

The creeds of the old. The ancient creatures. The assholes who fucked up the material plane of existence. Whatever you choose to call them it's almost impossible to believe there was a time when they were at peace with one another, and yet there was. Long before anyone cares to remember the three lived separately but peacefully, and though it was no perfect harmony, it was certainly better than what it became. How the blood began is different depending on who you ask; the details get blurred no matter what. A dead king, a missing daughter, a human raid, some aristocratic cousin of the duke finds out about an affair and uses it as an excuse to go insane then promptly gets his head cut off during a improvised and very temporary alliance, etc., etc. The exact history never fails to confuse, but what followed for thousands of years will never be forgotten.

War waged, and then it slowed. The upper hand was passed around more times than anyone could record. The vampires hunted the humans, and the humans hunted the vampires, and the witches cursed and hexed who they could before the other two turned on them. Progress was a slow and dismal beast in the grand scheme of things. Life went on in an incalculable pattern of knowing and not knowing who would make it out in the end, and then, as soon as change uprooted the peace and created a whirlwind it struck again, to a lasting effect. Notably the weakest of the three creatures, and yet potentially the most cruel, humanity garnered power enough to rule for nearly a century. The vampires fled where they could, and hid where necessary, but ultimately preserved themselves as a species from the hunt. The witches were less fortunate, refusing to run away, and failing to hide in most cases. Victims of their pride, they all but watched their extermination and quieted the unsystematic chaos of the old for good. 

The return of the vampires saw one of the only negotiations ever in the history of the land. Filled with resentment and bitter hatred over years of callous and cruel fighting, but almost no one died over their discussions, which was significant improvement. Territory was sorted. Universal laws were placed for the first time. It seemed order had finally won over the hearts of those both beating and still, and the creatures slunk to their designated corners to live and rebuild and grow.

Hundreds of years later, and tensions are running higher than usual. Human-Vampire spats and killings are on the rise again, and even rarer there are whispers of a coven or two being formed, years after the near eradication of the witches.

Enter scene, Patrick Stump, a 20-something human who messed with the wrong kind of magic and may or may not have released a powerful demon figure on the Great City only to find himself passed out in a puddle of blood on vampire territory, and you'll find that's where the story began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this isn't the gay vampires you came here for but the start chapter is full of them i promise!! i do hope that you found this lil' fake history lesson interesting though, and if you did feel free to ask questions and get me to elaborate! i love this kind of world building, so if you have any curiosity about the setup don't be shy!
> 
> also ok let me outline some Creature Facts™
> 
> vampires: yes, your undead, mostly immortal, survive on blood type vampires (animal, human, substitutes for the veggies out there). typically they have the heightened five senses (with a couple stronger and weaker than others), and usually they'll either be abnormally strong or abnormally fast. the sun is uncomfortable and weakens them, but it doesn't kill them or really harm them too much. can be born as or turned (born as are stronger and don't have to feed as often)
> 
> humans: the boring ones who actually aren't that boring hear me out. the most versatile because even though they aren't born with anything special they can be turned and even dabble in magic (some to the point of being legible for covens despite their magic not being as strong as that of a true witch). most resent and fear anything that is not of their own kind, and they're incredibly strict on the rules.
> 
> witches: true witches are innate magic users with a strong bond to the magical aura and plane, participate in "typical" witchcraft things (spells, rituals, charms, hexes, etc.) and are granted a single unique ability through focusing their magical energy (think of certain superpowers, flight, manipulation of an element, things of that nature). witches of any kind of practically unheard of where things are set in the world because they haven't been seen for years and were almost pushed to extinction during the extreme salem-esque time represented here.
> 
> ok hopefully this information dump was not boring <3 i will see you in an actual chapter very soon i promise
> 
> p.s. actual chapters will definitely be longer than this


	2. bloodied streets and damaged goods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> patrick meets an unlikely savior and an unfortunate situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go!

Admittedly, Patrick didn't remember much in that moment. Everything was hazy in a way he could barely comprehend, and when the coolness of the asphalt below him began to draw him into a slumber, an instinctive fear coupled with a rush of adrenaline shocked his system awake. Why was he afraid? Even that thought was difficult for him to answer. Every time he tried to blink open his eyes the image of feet and the grey of the street he was lying in blurred into a dizzying image. He made attempts to focus on the murmur of voices from overhead, but only key words made their way between his ears: "Human, Body, Blood" were common among them. The only constant was the sticky feeling on his chest, spreading outward into the cracks of the pavement. His torso felt achy and sensitive, his legs rendered seemingly useless at the level of exhaustion in his body, and the sticky substance had made its way into his hair. Patrick felt himself take another ragged, shallow breath, and then it hit him.

He was in vampire territory. 

He was bleeding, useless, limp, surrounded by some number of gawking members of society in the open streets of vampire territory. 

Suddenly it occurred to him that he was going to die today.

-

Patrick was a good kid from a decent family who had grown into a somewhat functioning member of society. His parents didn't raise him to be a fighter but in fact quite the opposite. He knew where the territory lines were like he knew his home address, knew not to stay out too late after dark even in human areas, knew to keep his head down and walk fast in nearly every situation, knew vampires backwards and forwards and only how to kill them in case he had to, but despite his vast knowledge and useful family teachings he had still wound up face down in a near impossible situation. He dabbled in magic, much to the dismay of his parents, but he only touched charms and protective enchantments. He never strayed into anything serious or dangerous, until now.

Patrick tried to grip the consciousness he had left, reached out for any threshold of clarity and found none. Soon his fears were prayed upon; he felt a foot poke his side and dig in a bit, not a forceful kick but given just enough pressure to make him wince a bit. A moment later there was a presence closer to him, crouching in form, a younger vampire. Patrick made attempts to move again, but like those before he floundered against his ailments, and unlike before the figure reacted to his attempts. There was a fist nestled in Patrick's hair, and a snarling voice from a face he could not yet see. "How fucking dumb do these humans get?" Patrick groaned in pain as his head was lifted partially from the ground, feeling the full weight of the blood in his hair for the first time. Now that he could see the face he wished his head was back on the ground. The vampire was all angles, brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a couple more facial piercings than Patrick ever needed to see in his life, but more than that his fangs were in full view, an accompaniment to the dastardly smile he had plastered across his face. Patrick said nothing, didn't feel capable of saying anything. He cowered as much as he could against the figure, closed his eyes, and prepared for whatever he could, fangs, more violence, a play to the sadistic humor of the other vampires circling him, or something far worse.

He was waiting for something that never came.

It all happened very quickly as his hair was released and his head was dropped rather forcefully, slammed if you will, back to the pavement which only jarred him more. The voices above him were angry now, and he could hear something akin to a fight that did not last very long. He heard some yelling, a grunt or two, perhaps the sound of a punch making contact, and then feet running in the opposite direction. His body appeared to have had enough to do with the whole staying conscious thing in that moment. Patrick processed someone saying "Holy shit" and the feeling of being lifted from the ground, a feeling he wasn't in any shape to protest as he felt the weight of a brick settle across his chest and his unconscious state take complete hold.

-

Pete Wentz was not having a good day, although some would attest that it seemed he rarely had good days. As an associate to the council and the monarchy, the two law making and enforcing bodies on the vampires side of things, the recent toil of the two species had most certainly gotten to him. The amount of killings and injuries on both sides had risen significantly in the past few months, and trying to keep both happy without causing a war was beginning to a tedious line of "how much do we both want peace".  
Pete had calmed or been involved in at least a dozen arguments that almost rose to requiring fangs or a stake. He had a right to be as grumpy and on edge as he was on his solitary walk back to his apartment.

His route was perfectly normal for the most part, and if he hadn't heard the word "human" he likely wouldn't have stopped and inspected the huddled group of vampires off to the side of the road, admiring something on the pavement. At the sound of the other species his attention peaked, and as he approached the worrying scent of fresh blood filled his nose. The group of vampires was younger, and they all seemed ready to pounce. Something predatory that would usually be used for hunting took Pete over at the sight before him. A human guy bleeding across the paved streets, and a recently turned vampire almost at his jugular.

The absolute last thing he needed was another murder on his hands. Technically there would be nothing the humans could do. Technically the human was on their land and no longer safe under human law, but Pete wasn't going to meddle with technicalities. Besides, there was no better time to teach some brutish young vampires a well deserved and life long lesson in self control. The predatory kick in the back of his mind had him throwing the other vampire off of the guy with little effort and pinning him to the brick wall making up part of the store behind them. The other vampire furiously fought against him, biting and hissing and scratching, but Pete held firm and with a swift punch to his jaw he quieted the others restlessness. "Find your food elsewhere." He said in close proximity to the other before releasing him. Pete watched the vampire scurry away for a moment before turning to assess the human.

"Holy shit"

The words, while an accurate reaction to the physical state of the man before him, left Pete in a moment of surprise taken aback by the appearance of the unknown human. He knew someone in The District had medical experience and without thinking too much, he lifted the human into his arms and frantically made his way to his place of residence.

-

Patrick awoke to voices, fewer this time, clearer than before, and more gentle in nature, still speaking softly as though not the wake him. It took a moment longer than it should have for the unfamiliarity of the couch beneath him to sink in, and when it did he panicked. He tried his best to sit up in a jolting manner but instead found it entirely too painful to do so. He felt the fabric of a blanket over his torso and something foreign across his chest but no shirt could be felt. He felt his hair, expecting the bits of blood to be dried and crunchy where they had been, but instead felt damp and drying bits of hair where it had been washed out. Obviously the voices had been notified of his presence, the panicky change of his breath, the groan of pain as he had tried to sit, but now he kept as still as he could on the couch, confused and afraid. The first face he saw was that of a happy, curly haired man, with a blurry trail he traveled lightning fast and appeared behind the couch. It was the face of someone Patrick could have seen himself being friends with were he now not trying to shove himself further into the couch.

"Good morning sunshine." The voices was just as happy as the face as the figure greeted Patrick and proceeded to lift a blood bag to his mouth, to which Patrick grimaced and looked away. "Oh shit, sorry, fuck man, that was not cool of me, sorry." Now curly hair was frantically spewing apologetic curses and hiding the blood bag with the couch between them. "It's Joe by the way, if you were wondering." Patrick had been wondering, but most of his thoughts had not been about the man's name. By now he was more confused than afraid. These people could have killed him at any point while he had been unconscious, why hadn't they? And more importantly, who had saved him from the asshole in the street? Patrick felt like his world's foundation had been turned on its head. He was taught that he should definitely be dead by now, as vampires weren't keen on control, but now here he was rescued and bandaged by the very things he was terrified of. Ah, bandages, the foreign substance on his chest was recognizable now that he looked down at his torso, the area where he had been bleeding wrapped by something like a medical cloth. He looked back up and around the room as much as he could without moving.

"W-Who? Wh-" He didn't bother providing his name as Joe had, and his questions died in his throat, his voice raspy from disuse and the stress caused to his body. Quickly there was a glass in his hand, a somewhat intimidating tattooed form helping him sit up despite the pain and giving him water to help with his voice. Before Patrick could think to thank him a third voice piped up from across the room.

"I'm the one who brought you here, and I'm sure you have questions but so do I." The still unnamed man, now known to Patrick as the one who had indeed saved him pulled a chair over to talk over the arm of the couch, sitting much closer than Patrick intended to be. "First of all, why were you fumbling around with an open wound on vampire property? And second, what the hell is that thing on your chest?"

In regards to his chest, Patrick had no idea what he was talking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pete: the master of introducing himself to spooked humans


	3. smoke and mirrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> patrick gets a glimpse of his chest and doesn't like what he sees (it feels similarly)

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Patrick clutched the glass that had been given to him like it was his only life line, as if it would give him the answers he had yet to find in his own mind. His head was swimming yet again, and the dull ache in his chest was only growing more worrisome with the unnamed and abnormally close vampires questions. His head had no answers no matter how hard he wracked his brain for a response to satisfy the man before him. He had none. Nothing. Nowhere to go from here. He wanted to curl into a ball right there on the couch, close his eyes and wait until everyone left him alone or he had something sufficient to answer their questions with, to run away, to hide, to never look back, to do something that wasn't nothing but staring at an empty glass dumbfounded and still afraid. Patrick wasn't sure he wanted to know what had happened to him, what he had done. The creeping feeling of a terrible something he could not remember hadn't left him alone since he had awoken on that very couch. The faint taste of bile coated his throat, and the soreness of his chest only grew stronger the more he breathed. Worst of all were the pair of eyes he knew were still trained on him, piercing and stern but not angry, more concerned than they should have been for a human like himself. Patrick needed to move, to get out of that line of sight.

"uh...Bathroom?" He asked softly, looking in Joe's direction who had taken a seat on the opposite end of the couch.

"Oh, yeah! Back there, first door on the left" Joe pointed to a short hall just past the stairs, and Patrick was gone. It hurt a bit to stand, but he had managed to regain his composure surprisingly fast with the amount of adrenaline powered anxiety coursing through him.

Pete sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "He needs to tell us what's going on. If the council finds out about him-"

"Give him time. If he's with us the council will overlook long enough for someone to figure out what happened. Pretty sure most humans would be handling his situation much worse if they were in his shoes." Andy piped up from across the room in the kitchenette, gesturing vaguely to the three vampire's abode.

"Do you think they'd really try him?" Joe inquired, returning to his bag of blood now that Patrick was out of view.

"If he isn't here with cause then they already have everything they would need to, especially if he was practicing magic." At that Pete pulled a small, poorly bound journal type book with symbols carved around the edges, a item that fell out of Patrick's pocket while Dallon was doctoring him. Despite his attempts he had been unable to open it due to what he could only assume were protection wards on the outer edges. "The most they could do would be to hold him here, but, well.." The others got the gist, "holding" a vampire or a human in another territory was almost worse than a prison sentence. If Patrick were required to stay within vampire territory without proper legal protections, no one would bat an eye if he wound up dead being a temporary citizen on their side. Human law wouldn't be able to touch him, and vampire law wouldn't care to keep him safe. Pete had seen it happen a handful of times before on either side, a person forced to stay on the other side rarely made it home.

He wasn't about to let it happen again, no matter what Patrick had or hadn't done.

-

Patrick looked like hell, a realization he only made as he finally got a glimpse of himself in the mirror. A culmination of the past eight hours could be seen across his form despite not remembering all the details. His hair was unkempt and swept up in various unnatural directions, while a smattering of bruises were clear across his shoulders and around his ribs, as well as a cut or two on his chin that appeared to be stitched up. The most daunting of all was whatever injury lay beneath the bandages wrapped around his chest and the unknown he had been asked about. Patrick took a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady himself before he reached up to undue the wrapping.

The first few layers were pristine white, but as he continued to unwind the bandages the last bits of blood could finally be seen, although it had stopped by then. Patrick could barely comprehend what he saw in the mirror, staring in a state of utter disbelief that he was currently in his own skin. Raised scabs and bits of pink scar tissue, a vibrant pink-red, a wound already healing despite having been inflicted only a few hours before, by what he did not know. It was obviously a magical symbol in some way, the pattern muddled to a degree by the healing state it was in. The lines looked almost carved into his chest, and he felt almost like vomiting, or crying, which urge was strongest he couldn't quite tell in the moment. It was so vividly present and aching on his chest and somehow so foreign to him. He winced, running a finger over a bit of the scarring parts of the pattern, large enough to cover the complete top part of his chest.He continued following the natural lines of it before a light hum filled his mind, followed by a sudden and sharp pain in his skull, sending him jolting and clutching the edge of the sink.

His brain felt like it was on fire, a white hot mind-numbing fire coating his brain, and then the images came. A flashing quick succession, memories of his whereabouts filling in gaps almost too quickly for Patrick to focus on. He didn't register the fact that he had cried out in the moment, and before the searing pain could stall the door was being forced open. Patrick felt the coolness of the tile emanating on his burning form. He was unsure whether he had fallen or been pulled to the ground as there were arms around his form now, either to restrain his struggling form or comfort him that was yet another thing he didn't know. The pain went just as it came, suddenly, leaving a further shaken Patrick breathless on the bathroom floor and in the stronger arms of the vampire who had originally saved him.

"Andy go see if Dallon is back. Joe, get him some more water." Pete nodded to the others, and they got to work. Patrick felt a hand in his hair, gentle atop his head where there had been nothing but pain only seconds before, and then he was being carried for the second time that day. He couldn't find it in himself to protest as he was taken back to the couch. Andy, as the once intimidating tattooed figure had been identified, was leaving as a refilled glass was placed into Patrick's hand.

"I, the warehouse, and the charm didn't, and..." Patrick shook his head, spewing out bits of the story he had remembered at lightning speed.

"Hey woah, slow down there. Let's start with the basics. I'm Pete, don't think I mentioned that before, and you are...?" Patrick had almost forgotten the basics with everything that had just hit him.

"I'm Patrick." Patrick caught his eyes again, the two in the same positions as before, Patrick on one end of the couch and Pete in a chair next to the arm.

"Alright, Patrick, got it. Now you said, warehouse, a charm? I'm assuming magic?" Pete reached out to the coffee table where he had set the journal to check on Patrick.

Patrick reached out for the book, not having thought to notice its absence, but it was pulled out of his reach before he could take it back.

"Ah, sorry it's just, it's too dangerous to, we don't need you doing magic over here, especially with everything going on. You'll get it back, just not here." There was something of an apologetic smile, and Patrick could tell Pete's intentions weren't to be rude or distrusting, simply a precaution during times like these. Still, Patrick's lips held a certain pout to them that hadn't been there before.

"Yes, magic. I dabble a bit, but, something went wrong...I don't know. It was, it was a protection spell, and..." Patrick was at a loss for words, and his head was beginning to hurt dully as he tried to describe it. Pete could see the strain on the other and ran his hands through his own hair at the mentions of magic, a word that the council did not enjoy hearing. The sound of the door opening alerted Patrick, but Pete didn't want to lose this chance to get answers from the calmed human.

"A protection spell?" The words were barely out of Pete's mouth before two faces Patrick hadn't seen before entered the apartment in front of Andy. A tall brown haired man who looked a few years older than Patrick entered first, two brown grocery sacks in hand that quickly found their way onto the counter. The man crossed the room in a few strides, and caught Patrick's complete attention.

"You can ask him questions later, but he's mine for now. Go help Hals and Andy with the soup." Patrick's attention peaked at the mention of real food and he watched Pete shake his head and make his way to the kitchenette. Andy and a girl with a short blonde pixie cut were talking and pulling ingredients out of a bag. The girl was definitely a vampire, but there was something off about her complexion, as if it still had some life to it that was fading fast into a more pristine porcelain. Patrick didn't have too much time to think as the man from before claimed Pete's chair and scooted around to get a better look at him, eyeing him up and confusing Patrick even further. The man caught himself staring at his wounds and met Patrick's curious gaze.

"Oh, oops, it's Dallon. I patched you up while you were out, and whatever, damn it left a number on you." He went back to inspecting the bruises and the scar, and Patrick resumed his confusion.

"You're..." He didn't quite know how to put it, but once again his face must've given Dallon all he needed.

"Human? Yes indeed." Dallon smiled a bit and went back to checking, accidentally brushing a bruise that made Patrick jump. Patrick could easily tell. He gave off body heat, breathed in a normal pattern, had a complexion that wasn't eerily preserved when all he had seen for the last bit had been exactly the opposite. "For now at least. I live and work here legally, but with plans to stay someone will eventually have to, err, you know." Dal gestured with his head a bit at the mention of being turned. Despite something of an answer Patrick was more confused than before, although he had heard of humans getting the right paperwork to live or work in vampire territory he had never met one, especially not one who planned on staying and becoming one. Usually they were shamed or out-casted, more than that erased from the streets and homes where they lived, but Dallon hadn't left the sour taste in Patrick's mouth when he mentioned staying like Trick thought he should have. "Andy said something happened with your head?" Dallon tilted his chin a bit to check on the stitches. Patrick nodded and explained it as best he could, the sharp pain, dizziness, even the regain in memory. Something about a human presence made him more at ease than he had been before, solidarity with a heartbeat he supposed. Dallon pursed his lips a moment. "Hmm, well if the headache persists you can have two of these every 4-6 hours." He reached into a small bag and pulled out a bottle which he sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Everything else is just...odd. You're sure you're human? Like 100% positive? Nothing weird in the bloodstream?" Dallon inquired with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

"...Yes, definitely, why in the world?" Patrick was taken aback. What else would he be? He wasn't undead, and what, a witch? Those were unheard of.

"Well, that was an open wound two hours." He pointed to the already scarring bits of the pattern on Patrick's chest. "No average human should be healing that fast." There was something of concern in Dallon's voice as he spoke, and another presence drew Patrick's eye as the girl from before now came into view on his right, staring intently at the mark and shaking her head, a clear look of confusion on her face as she thought for a bit.

"Oh fuck, shit, the mark, I've seen it before." She hit Dallon's shoulder lightly as she made some sort of connection.

"In one of your books?" He responded, looking up at her where she stood.

"Yeah yeah, whatever it is, it definitely isn't good. I can try and find it again, but there's a lot of material up there." Her face held a similar concern as Pete spoke from where he sat on the dining room table, now having left Andy alone to the cooking.

"We'll help, and maybe you can get Brendon off his ass too. If that thing is bad news, we need to find out what exactly it is." Pete hopped down from the table and walked over to the three of them.

Dallon and Ashley nodded at each other, and Dal stood up, ready to make their way out the door.

"Hey, um... Can I maybe get my shirt back?" Patrick spoke up, somewhat embarrassed, a light blush on his cheeks having not had a shirt since he had woken up bandaged on the couch.

"I think it's still being washed, but I can grab you one of mine?" Pete offered, and Patrick nodded eagerly, anything to cover up before they ventured out would be alright with him. Pete made his way up the stairs and returned within a few minutes, shirt in hand. Patrick put it on carefully but still managed to brush a couple of bruises as he did so. Joe stood up with them and as the group made their way to the door stopped next to Andy who was still cutting up vegetables. Patrick could hear him ask if he needed any help and watched them smile at each other a moment before Joe spoke up.

"I'm gonna stay here and help Andy with the soup." Patrick could swear he saw Pete roll his eyes as the four of them left the apartment, but he didn't ask. He was more busy fiddling with his hands as they entered the hallway, anxious to discover more about what was going on, but worried about the outcome that knowledge would bring.

The door to the apartment closed with a soft thud behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't mind me just getting the scooby gang together
> 
> dallon and halsey are here with knowledge and soup


	4. light reading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang tries to figure out what that symbol on patrick's chest is, and he learns a little more about where he is

The hallways smelt faintly of blood and overwhelmingly of cheap coffee, and the carpeted floor muffled the sounds of four pairs of feet on the ground. The shirt on Patrick's shoulders was far more comfortable than it should have been, somewhat baggy on his frame. He imagined that if Pete were in it it would swallow him whole, and for some odd reason that thought rattled around in Patrick's head for quite a while. He tuned into the world around him when Pete broke the silence ahead of him next to the girl Patrick now knew as Halsey.

"So, finally opted to join the world of the dead?" Patrick could see Pete's smirk as he turned his head to look at her, something teasing about it. "Was it this girlfriend we've heard about?" 

"Shut up old man." Pete's tone and shoulder nudge earned him a swift elbow to the ribs, and Patrick naturally let out a chuckle that he quickly silenced with a surprised glance from the man in front of him, holding his side a bit.

"Oh, sor-"

"No, don't apologize. It was, uh, it was nice." Pete responded quickly, cutting Patrick off as the group got into the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Yes, well, speaking of this girlfriend of yours, when do we finally get to meet the mystery girl?" Dallon took up a similar playful tone, turning to look at Halsey while Pete reached around Patrick to press the right button on the elevator. 

"You guys? Never if I can help it." Her smile was just as playful if not dripping with sarcasm, pulling out a key as the elevator dinged and pushing her way through to take the lead.

It was in these moments that Patrick felt almost surreal, the glimpse into the average almost domestic lives of these vampires, even despite the current events was throwing him off. How comfortable they all were made him feel almost at home and even eased the nausea rising with the anticipation of what was to come. The end of the hallway came sooner than he anticipated, and before he knew it they were turning into the last door on the right. It was a similar size to the apartment a few floors down but an entirely different layout. The open feel provided by it was lessened by the colorful dividers and the colorful blankets hanging from the ceiling, cutting up the large living space into separate "rooms" if he could call them that. A foreign voice rang out from a loft space across the room.

"Dal, Hals, is that you?" 

"No, it's the police, politely barging into your home" Ashley called out in front of them.

"Oh really, what are you arresting me for?" The voice called back, but Patrick had yet to see a face to attach it to.

"Dunno yet, why don't you come down here and find out?" Dallon suggested back. There was a swift, wooshing sound as a blur of color became the physical form of a vampire leaning dramatically on the banister of the loft space.

"And what if I said no?" The new arrival fired back.

"Then someone here might just have to make you." Their tones were becoming increasingly suggestive as the new vampire became a blur once again, using his advanced speed to wind up in front of Dallon in a matter of seconds, arms snaking to his waist as he looked up at him.

"Oh really?" There was an added waggle of the vampires eyebrows as he proceeded to bite his lip, one fang in full view, and Patrick felt immediately as though he was watching something he shouldn't be unfold before him as Dallon's hands found the others arms. He could only assume the new arrival was the Brendon he had heard briefly of before they got there. The two were staring intently into each others gaze, and Patrick was saved from having to look at them any longer as Pete looked to Halsey and she gestured with her hand for them to follow. The three crossed the room and entered a section of the space separated by beaded curtains. Inside there were three tall bookshelves, almost full, upon which sat a variety of occult looking things. There was a table with two chairs on it and a beanbag in the floor as if this were a place where light reading took place, despite the obvious dark nature of the selves. Patrick glanced back to see if the other two had followed, but found they were still just staring, managing to create an absurd amount of tension in that one action.

"God it looks like they're fucking each other with their eyes." The comment was quiet, and really only meant for himself, but if earned reactions out of both of his companions. It was Pete's turn to laugh, short and low, and Patrick would be lying if he said he couldn't get used to a sound like that.

"Trust me, that's just a glimpse into the eye sex. Living with them is a whole different story because they're Incredibly Gross!" Ashley began grabbing books from the shelves and placing them in stacks on the table, yelling the last two words of her complaint to make sure the other two heard.

"We know!" In almost perfect unison they yelled back the response before joining the three of them in the space.

Ashley finished sorting the books into various stacks of two and three, and proceeded to hand them out to the individuals. "Alright, Patrick you take cults, Pete, me and you on demonology, Dallon take ancient symbols, Bren you grab the miscellaneous." She plucked a note card from one of the books and briefly drew a rough sketch of the symbol on Patrick's chest, still sore as he was reminded of it. "You see anything that looks like that, and you let everyone know." She nodded at the group and took a seat in one of the chairs. Patrick was curious as to why she had all of this material, but he was more concerned with finding something to do with his still missing section of memory and the odd symbol scarring on his chest to ask. Everyone took up a place and began flipping through their designated books.

-

Patrick had made it through about half of his first cult book, somehow growing disinterested in the idea of reading about another old group of witch cannibals, or crazed druggie vampires. He looked up from his pages, finding the rest of the people in the room. Hals and Dallon sat at the table, still entirely focused on their books despite Brendon laying gracefully across the table, stack of books abandoned on his stomach and upper body hanging off the edge. Brendon flashed a toothy grin as they caught each others attention, and Patrick wondered if he ever put his fangs away. Pete had taken up under the window next to one of the bookshelves, leaving Patrick to the beanbag on the floor. Trick's eyes were drawn to the glass above Pete, and for the first time since he had come to it hit him that it was pitch dark outside. Through the closed blinds he could only make out the darkness of the night, and a few lights of the city around them. Back home he had never kept a good sleep schedule, but he supposed he truly was on vampire time now. He was pulled out of his books for good as his curiosity took hold.

"Where exactly are we?" His question garnered full attention from everyone besides Ashley, who cocked her head slightly to show she was somewhat paying attention. Pete looked up from his own book across to him and opened his mouth as if to answer.

"You are currently in The District, home of the more honorable members of our society." Brendon made some over the top gesture signaling the people in the room waving around a book he probably hadn't even read a sentence of, to which Dallon couldn't help but laugh as Brendon gestured to himself.

"Essentially what Brendon said, The District offers residence to the best representatives of vampiric society who can afford it. That's why you'll find people like Dal and Halsey here, human representatives or residents looking to turn. This is also the part of town where the council meets and the monarchy resides." Patrick had heard of The District, but never in so much depth, nor did he realize it was pretty much the heart of their territory. He felt a daunting pressure on him to be so far into vampire territory, especially when he wasn't legally supposed to be anywhere near it. "The good thing is, you'll rarely find anyone like those scumbags from earlier here. With us you're safe." Patrick felt the pressure dissolve, and replace with a new more urgent thought that made entirely more panicked than before as he looked out upon their books.

_'What if you aren't safe with me?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> breadbin is here and he is too cool for school
> 
> i hope that everyone is enjoying this so far! i must say i've had the idea for this story for a while with only a very basic plot in mind, so when i started writing it on a whim a few days ago things have been going chapter by chapter. i've never written this much content for fun before, and it's really enjoyable to know i have something to continue every day!
> 
> something i haven't mentioned, but if you would like to chat on tumblr you can find me @vivelatrans


	5. shapes in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> patrick thinks about magic, soup has been made, and pete receives unsettling news

The sound of turning pages was the only noise present in the room, and Patrick lost track of time between the vacancy of noise and attempting to be careful with the near ancient pages it felt like he had in his hands. Admittedly he had not been able to focus back in on his reading since his last interruption. There were far too many unknown variables still at play, and Patrick still felt at a loss for answers despite his partially restored memories. He and a couple of other human magic users set up in a run down warehouse and had some sort of agreement to not talk about it or take each others shit. In the two years the group had came and went, nothing had gone awry. Every time Patrick went it seemed almost routine, sometimes he would pass another person from the group on their way out, and other times all three would be off in separate corners. Patrick definitely hadn't thought it would be him who would fuck it up.

Ryan barely interacted with him as they passed each other, almost brushing shoulders in the process, but his silent, almost nonexistent nod in Trick's direction wasn't unlike him. With him gone, the warehouse was empty in the barren outskirts of town, where beyond lay unclaimed ruined territory. Although there, with it not being there before, the memory was hazy, and Patrick knew clearly very little of it pulling out the required ingredients for the charm he wished to create. Everything fizzled to darkness until he was stumbling, bloody onto the pavement where the other vampires and eventually Pete had found him. The only thing odd about the sequence in its entirety were the components he had prepared, obviously equipped for a larger incantation than he thought it would be. Still, despite wracking his brain, he found nothing in the blank black space between memories. They simply flowed into one another like a poorly edited film. Patrick forced himself to return to staring at the pages in front of him as his head began to hurt slightly, one depicting a circle of strangely drawn wolf-like entities, not anything like what he was looking for. Dallon yawned across the room, and Brendon had migrated to sit on the floor with his head against the other man's legs.

"You two should go get something to eat, and we all need some sleep. That's a given." Halsey spoke up, still skimming her book, but looking up as Dallon finished yawning and drawing a quick glance at the lightening sky. Patrick couldn't place what the equivalent of this time would be for him on the human side of things, but he assumed a late dinner at the least. "This doesn't look like it's going to be an easy find, but we can keep going tomorrow." Pete's eyes were on her now but not for long as they traced over Patrick's form, obviously disgruntled at the lack of information gathered by their research. Patrick's stomach most certainly agreed with the suggestion, not worried about food until the ache in his chest had dulled significantly. A silence coated the room, tired vampires and humans alike for only a moment before it was broken once again by the cheeriest voice among them.

"Who wants soup?" Dallon smiled to the rest of them, somehow not hit with the same level of exhaustion as the others, or managing to hide it incredibly well. His hand found his way into Brendon's hair, form still leaning on his leg. Brendon grabbed it and placed a kiss on his knuckles before intertwining their figures, a quick and gentle gesture, everything the couple hadn't been a few hours ago.

Brendon and Halsey decided to stay behind, and the sleepy silence resumed as Dallon took the lead out the door. The walk was more solemn for Patrick, almost as if a defeat hung over his head, exhausted, hungry, and with no more knowledge than that which he gained when his splitting headache happened earlier. Patrick was only pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Pete's voice echo lightly in the hall, Dallon knocking on the door. 

"Wow, you two actually leave your apartment?" Pete's voice was muffled only by his lack of rest, but contained a similar playful feel as it had with Halsey and his roommates. Patrick located the intended recipients of the words with ease, and likely would have been able to even if they weren't the only other people in the hall. A head of bright yellow hair stuck out among the drab beige color of the walls, and the figure of two guys fully came into Patrick's view. The yellow-haired one had something of a bright eyed disposition, wild hair reflecting a big smile on his face despite Pete's lighthearted jab at the pair. He was in complete contrast to the other guy on his back, dark brown hair visible where the others head was buried on the other guys back, legs being held and arms around the yellow-haired guy's neck. The brunette lazily raised an arm to shoot the middle finger at Pete.

"Surprising right?" The yellow haired one called back as he arrived at the door across the hall from the apartment Andy had just opened the door to let them into. The brunette adjusted his head on his friends back, seeming to wince at the exchange.

"Why are you guys so loud?" His voice was much softer, whether natural or quieted in a tired state, Patrick wouldn't know. The yellow haired vampire adjusted where he was holding his friend and turned his head a bit.

"Sorry Tyler" His voice softened enough to seemingly appease the form on his back as the one identified as Tyler adjusted with him.

"Apparently there's soup in here if you want any." Pete offered, also lowering his voice and turning from the now slightly cracked open door where Dallon had entered his apartment. Patrick soon followed him inside, leaving Pete and the other pair in the hall.

"Have you seen him?" The yellow haired one gestured with his head at Tyler on his back, who raised his head up and pouted slightly at the words and promptly put it back on his friend's shoulder he could hear a muffled 'screw you' from Tyler. "I think we're good."

"Alright, night Josh." Pete said turning again to open the door a bit. 

"Goo-wait, Pete, some guys were looking for you earlier before we left, didn't talk to them but thought you should know."

"Shit, did they look like council?"

"Yep, suits, ties, the whole shebang"

Pete's expression grew more worried than anything and carried traces of frustration with it. "Alright, just, thanks Josh."

"No problem, night Pete." Josh's words were heard as Pete shifted into the apartment, pulling the door to as he did so. If the council was already on them about Patrick they were fucked, but Pete didn't have much time to be disgruntled in his thoughts, managing to compose himself before freaking out in front of the human.

"Joe is out, and I'm going too. Soup is in the fridge." Andy said as Pete came in behind Patrick and Dallon, making his way up the stairs after Pete sent a nod in his direction.

Dallon soon made his way back to the apartment, tupper ware container of soup in hand after giving the two a goodnight and telling them to come and get him if anything weird happened with Patrick. Patrick had managed to fix himself a bowl and find a place on the couch that time, and Pete meandered in his direction, taking a seat next to him.

"Do you guys even need to eat?" Patrick asked curiously in Pete's direction. It was a valid question, but it struck Pete as odd in that moment his head being caught up in thoughts of other far worse things than Patrick yet knew.

"Ah, well, not really? Most do anyway, for comfort or taste or whatever, but we can survive on only blood. It gets boring after a while though." Pete hadn't felt anything more strongly than that statement in a long time. He had barely made it through a couple years on only blood, and couldn't imagine it being the only thing he tasted for the entirety of his lifespan, a born vampire of more years than he cared to figure up. The two sat in a comfortable silence for many moments, both mulling over their thoughts. Twenty-four hours ago Patrick Stump had been your mostly average, nobody human who knew when to keep his head down. Now he was living, eating, and sleeping in a den of vampires on the wrong side of the city with missing memories and a permanent reminder upon his chest of something he had yet to know. Twenty-four hours ago Pete Wentz had been a mildly agitated vampiric council associate, angry at the increasing tensions across the city lines. Now he was harboring a human in his home, one who had likely done something they were both going to regret getting involved in, and he didn't even care about the risks he was taking.

Somewhere in the quiet Patrick's eyes had fluttered to a close, dish abandoned on the coffee table and sleep managing to take him after everything. His head lolled to the side and found itself against Pete's shoulder to which Pete felt obligated to move away. He didn't however, allowing the human's full weight to sink into his side and suddenly finding he didn't want to disturb him. Pete determined that now would be an inconvenient time to have a pulse because what would have beat in his chest would have been fluttering faster than ever before. He found that despite his uncomfortable position, he eventually lulled into a slumber as the sun began to peak outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty the sleepy grump oops this whole chapter was about soup
> 
> i doubted i would be able to keep up the daily pace with these chapters, but i'm gonna try and post another one today to hopefully make up for what i missed the past two days!


	6. bitter entities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> patrick is initiated in the ways of apartment building c, and some unwanted guests arrive earlier than expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back! sorry to leave you in the dark there for a bit, but i was out of town touring some caves this weekend.
> 
> anyway, time to return to the vampires

Pete awoke last, not to the thundering sounds of Joe nearly falling down the stairs, or the clattering of dishes as Andy began making food for those human companions in the apartment. No, the sudden shifting of heat on his side jolted him from a deep slumber. He jumped out of reflex, eyes snapping open and almost jumping into a defensive stance before he realized where he was and what was going on. His neck and back felt stiff, twisted into an uncomfortable position during his sleep to accommodate the body pressed flush to his side. Patrick was only now beginning to wake as Pete's shock seemed to alarm him as well, but it was in those few moments before he truly came to that Pete was left to admire. His left arm, which had started the morning on the back of the couch, had fallen across Patrick's form, and the human had lazily gripped his wrist in his sleep. His eyes fluttered open, much more gentle than Pete's sudden awakening minutes before. The two came to look at each other a moment, locking eyes until knowing the full extent of their situation, and Patrick's eyes widened at the flood of information that all came back to him. As comfortable as it was to be wrapped in someone's arms for the duration of the evening, Patrick had no intent for it to be a vampire he knew extremely little about. He quickly threw the blanket and arm from his body and scrambled to the other end of the couch, somehow managing to throw the fabric around his shoulders and make a cocoon for himself in a matter of seconds. Pete swore he could see the beginnings of a blush on the others face before he himself turned away in embarrassment.

"You two sleep well?" Andy asked nonchalantly, appearing to busy himself with more breakfast things and not look at Pete directly. Joe on the other hand made the mistake of raising his eyebrows in a suggestive fashion and wearing the exact smile Pete did not want to see.

"Shut it." Pete promptly threw a couch pillow at Joe and made for the stairs without making eye contact.

"What? I didn't say anything!" Joe called up to him as he left, eventually shrugging it off and turning over the back of his chair to watch Andy. Meanwhile Patrick remained bundled up in the blanket across the room, trying to shake off the sleep and forget the events of a few moments ago.

"Dal did some looking around, found some clothes you can wear while you're around here." Andy moved across the room and took Pete's seat, sliding a glass down the coffee table towards Patrick and gesturing to a bag up against the wall. It dawned on Patrick that he was still wearing Pete's shirt throughout this, and it made the phantom arm still wrapped around him all the more difficult to forget. Patrick picked up the glass of steaming liquid in front of him, only needing to inspect it for a moment before equating the coffee smell to that persisting in the hallways of the apartment building. He took a quick sip under the watchful eyes of Joe and Andy, and immediately reeled at the vile and bitter grit of the drink. Joe immediately lost any semblance of composure from where he sat, and Andy's expression broke out into a grin as he stared across at Patrick who was not only mortified at the drink in hand but the people in the room with him.

"What the fuck is this?" Patrick asked still entirely confused by his companions.

"Terrible. That's what it is." Andy moved to remove the mug from Patrick's hands, saving him from another curious sip as he left the couch and poured the liquid into the sink still smiling all the while.

"You're officially welcomed to The District, Apartment Building C: Where the free coffee is the only thing worse than the rent." Joe managed to break his laughter to say, and Patrick couldn't help but smile with the two of them.

"Oh god, tell me they didn't introduce you to the coffee situation." Pete returned, finding himself at the bottom of the stairs and smirking a little at Patrick as he spoke, now much less disheveled and wearing different clothes than he had been earlier. Patrick turned away from his face, what was momentarily forgotten came back in a rush, and nonchalant demeanor Pete had only made it worse. Patrick quickly climbed out of his blanket wrap and went for the bag Andy had mentioned earlier, grabbing it and walking past Pete to the restroom he remembered from earlier in his stay.

It took him a moment to find something decent from the bag, a sack of miscellaneous clothes Patrick could only assume were reject items from around the building. He freshened up and found a simple t-shirt and jeans that fit but was lured out of the bathroom by a collection of voices in the main living area of the apartment. Upon returning he found a smattering of forms scattered throughout the room. Joe remained in his chair, and Pete had reclaimed his spot on the couch. The familiar yellow-haired guy from before, Josh if Patrick recalled correctly, was now on Pete's left with Tyler in the floor directly in front of Josh. Brendon was sitting on the limited counter space despite the abundance of chairs available, something that would have dismayed Andy had he not been fixing a plate elsewhere in the small kitchen area. Patrick stood suddenly not knowing where to go or what had happened while he was gone, almost a panic rising in his chest before Andy was making his way towards him. The tattooed form dropped a plate off with Joe before shoving on into Patrick's hands. Patrick stared at it for a moment, still distrusting of anything handed to him after the coffee.

"Breakfast. Sorry for the noise, we try to do this often." Andy smiled at him and went back to fiddling with the food in the kitchen.

Patrick found his place on the left side of the couch now next to Josh and Tyler, neither of which really acknowledged him as they paid attention to Pete and Dallon's conversation.

"Where's Hals?" Pete asked some hints of worry sounding in his voice. 

"Couldn't sleep. She was still up reading through some of those books when me and Bren went to bed, said she wasn't feeling great when we got up." Dallon responded from where he sat in a chair from the dining room pulled up next to the couch, plate in hand. 

"Probably has a mean sun hangover, something she's gotta get used to. Brendon, you better be keeping an eye on her!" Pete called out and sent Brendon a stern eye.

"I tried to warn her, but she's Ash, you really think she listens to me?" Brendon called back, feigning offense at first and raising his eyebrows as he posed the question to Pete. Dallon and Pete made similar gestures of knowing at the statement.

"Still she's-" Pete's voice stopped short at the sound of knocking, no vigorous pounding on the door to the apartment. The sudden and booming noise resolved the room to silence as most of them looked quizzically at who they could be missing while Andy moved to open the door. Pete immediately stood where he sat as the figures came into view, immaculate black and white suits, porcelain skin, the poster for council members.

"We sincerely apologize for the intrusion, but, the Council of the Vampiric Court requests the presence of one human Patrick M. Stump in viola-" The woman heading the three from the door frame began to speak, and the air seemed to grow stagnant in the room.

"C-Can we take this somewhere a little more private?" The frustrations in Pete's voice were more obvious than he would have liked, but he was wracking his brain for solutions of which he had yet to find any. He had never thought the council would push this so quickly, but he had certainly underestimated them, something he had learned not to do long ago.

"No, Mr. Wentz we cannot. The council has requested the immediate presence of this human, Patrick Stump, for trial on clear violations of both Human and Vampire codes, with your attendance for the hearing." The woman remained as cold as she had been moments before, despite the fact that Pete had moved about halfway across the room. He looked at a loss for a bit, allowing his face to harden before he accepted defeat with fists balled at his sides. Pete let out a sigh and searched for the right words. Patrick meanwhile, felt every bit of comfort he had achieved slip through his fingers in only a minutes time, a deer in the headlights as he looked to Pete for an answer, only coming up with the hopeless emptiness and realization of what was happening and what this had the potential to mean for him.

"Patrick, they, they aren't asking." Pete's eyes flickered to Patrick's form on the couch before deciding he couldn't look at him.

Patrick's steps didn't feel like his own as he moved from the couch. It felt as though he were moving through molasses, looking at the various degrees of anger and confusion strewn about the faces in the room as barely a breath was drawn in. The last thing he wanted was to move towards the doll-like figures who had sucked the life out of the room, but his body and mind dared not defy the members of the council sent to fetch him, unsure of what would happen if he did. Reaching Pete the two moved together, Pete slightly ahead as they left the apartment and entered the hall. They hung back as far as Pete felt was safe as the followed the trio, and Pete studied the state of the man next to him, Patrick appeared nothing less than stunned as he wracked his brain for recollection and realization, trying to gather anything to analyze the situation ahead of him. Trick felt his chest grow heavy with panic but knew that there was nothing that could truly be done to remedy the situation in those moments before the group hit the streets of the city. Trespassing was the only offense he even remembered committing, but what if they knew something he didn't? Patrick knew he was asking too many questions, rendering his brain useless when it came to finding calm in this situation. Pete could practically feel the anxiety emanating from the other, and knew the human couldn't present himself like that to the council.

"Hey, stick close to me. You're gonna be ok." Despite not knowing if his last sentence was true, Pete reached for the others hand anyway giving it a quick reassuring squeeze and letting it linger there for a moment before pulling back and looking for recognition in Patrick's eyes. He made sure Patrick believed him before looking away, satisfied with the nod and some relief he could see in the human. Pete wanted to say infinitely more to the other beside him, insure his safety and tell him how everything would truly work out in the end.

Pete also didn't want to lie to him.


	7. mean and pristine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> council court is scary, but the boys deal with it (with a little help)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a longer one for you guys <3 hope you like it

Patrick's feet soon became the most interesting thing about his surroundings. He took Pete's words to heart and walked closely enough beside him to feel the heat resonating off of his body in the chilly evening air of the city. If he had been listening to anything other than his headspace, he would have been able to hear people on nearly every street corner, the hustle and bustle of vampire life in a night that was still young. Heads were drawn to the five bodies walking in a clump down the streets of The District, eyes focusing in at the sight of council, leading a well-known vampire associate and a highly-unknown human directly towards the capital building. Patrick did not know of the sudden interest in him and his companion as he attempted to keep himself from delving back into a world of panic that had momentarily cease fired only for Pete's gentle reassurance. That reassurance was no longer the only thing rattling around in Patrick's brain, but it sure helped the worse things from making a breakthrough.

Pete, on the other hand, noticed everything. His senses were on full alert the moment the group exited the apartment building, and he didn't allow them to simmer. He caught every glance, every whisper around them, the face of anyone who breathed, and every fidget in Patrick's movements that made him all the more worried for the human man. It wasn't often that he allowed himself the chaotic noise of being so fully in tune, but when he did it was difficult to come down from. The sudden quiet as he unfocused on the buzz around them, and refocused on the capital building in front of him was deafening in the worst way, and in an instant he would have prayed for the noise back. The building itself was a mixture of truth and fiction, not the grim horror story most human children heard about vampires growing up, but not quite complying with most modern designs. It stayed faithful to gothic architecture spiraling to the sky with its tall windows and intricate designs. Though it shown through the city like a beacon, white marble, illuminating lights coming through the windows. What was usually felt as the prime jewel of the vampire city was only a daunting structure in the eyes of the duo.

One set of large oak doors swung open in front of them, held open by the two larger men following the woman who had fetched Pete and Patrick, and when they closed the two were sandwiched between the council members. Patrick didn't know what to except from the building's interior. When he finally dragged his eyes up from the ground, still keeping his head bowed slightly, he found that the inside was lavishly decorated in dark woods and leathers, and yet the nature of the rooms made him feel as though he were traversing a hospital. Most of those inside appeared similarly to the ones leading them about, pristine, near-white skin, and glossy eyes, cold to look at. More than anything Patrick wanted to run. He wanted to be gone from this place the moment he stepped foot inside, and yet he allowed his feet to move further into the darkness of the capital. Everywhere he turned it seemed a small grouping of vampires had turned attention away from their conversations and sent their gaze straight towards him. To them he was a criminal, his offences? He still wasn't entirely sure what was on that list, save for trespassing.

It felt as though an eternity had passed of them walking deeper into the building, getting in a elevator, turning down a hall. Patrick knew he wouldn't have made it back to the front door even if he had tried to run. Eventually they made their way to a room, no plaque on the door, no label, a small dark wooden door on the fourth floor, and something unsettling told Patrick that if he were to scream no one would hear him, and even if they did, they likely wouldn't care.

Within the room was one long coffee table, the same dark wood that matched the rest of the inside of the building. Around it sat more of the vampire figures, black suits and ties almost making their skin glow. Nearly ten of them sat in various states of impatience and boredom, and their interests barely peaked as the two men entered. The figures who led them there waited outside, and after exchanging nods with the man at the head of the table, the woman left with them. A heavy silence filled the room, Patrick feeling a shake in his hands where they were at his sides before his attention was drawn to a not sitting figure standing in the corner behind the man at the head of the table. The man at the table cleared his throat loudly, eyeing Pete with a look of contempt.

"We'll get right to this then, and if you don't mind without too many formalities. " His voice was deep and smooth, as blemish free as his skin, but it managed to sound like sandpaper to Patrick's ears a terrible drone that would follow him no matter where he went. Pete nodded for him to continue, stiff, one hand still balled into a fist but hidden by the table in front of him. The man clicked a button on a recording device in the center of the table. "Human Case: 4873, Patrick M. Stump, overseen by associate Pete Wentz. Patrick Stump, on trial for trespassing on vampire territory and under investigation for suspicious activity, is currently being officially Held on vampire grounds for his offences for the duration of the Council's investigation into his case. Should nothing out of the ordinary be found, he can choose to request a repeal of his Holding, and the Council will revisit his sentence. Should something odd or otherwise illegal be found as a part of his case he will be appropriately retried and punished accordingly. For now, he is to be immediately removed from The District and send to live in the outer parts of vampire territory and placed under Council surveillance. If-"

"Hold on, just like that? No questions, no revision, he's stuck here? Don't you need human legislation to sign off on these things?" Pete was grasping at straws. He had overseen countless Council meetings and trials in his lifetime, and none of them had ever been this swift. It generally took three or four days for Holding statements to pass through human government, if not a week.

"Humans returned the document two hours after it was sent Mr. Wentz. It's an official statement." A woman spoke up and slid the document down the table towards the two of them. Pete grabbed at it and began flipping, and to his amazement they were entirely truthful, two signatures of human legislation members glaring back at him on the third page of the packet. Not even the humans allowed for time on their side. Patrick could barely focus on his own breathing, much less the conversation at hand. Few words stuck out in his adrenaline clouded mind, and at the very least he knew that he couldn't leave vampire territory now. Even worse was that he was not allowed to reside within the district, and the thought sent his head swimming worse than anything. No more Joe or Andy, or Dallon, the only other human he'd met. No more vampires who had broken his guarded mode of thought and shifted his views on vampiric society. No more Pete. Pete who had been willing to protect him without question or care or reason. The Council would cart him off to the outskirts, and he would be dead before any of them could see him again.

And the Council members wouldn't bat an eye.

His death would be an accident, another unfortunate human stain on the vampire's streets, but it wouldn't be anything to start a war over.

"There has to be a way for-"

"No Mr. Wentz, Holding clauses call for all humans in violation of a law to be held outside of the District at-"

"I know that." Pete practically growled the word know, head raising and eyes peeled in a glare at the man heading the table. It was a look Patrick never wanted to be on the receiving end of. "There has to be something we can do to amend it. They'll kill him out there and every single one of you knows it." His tone was similarly tense, and his face similarly intense, although he had managed to subdue some of his anger for the purpose of the formal Council setup.

"I'm afraid there is absolutely no way we can allow Mr. Stump to stay in the District right n-"

"Actually, there is." Eyes in the room turned to the long-forgotten figure, looming in the back. One hand clasped around a cup of unknown liquid, the other behind him, resting on the wall which he lingered on. Patrick watched as the pale form eyed him up, now curiously awaiting his following words, hoping with everything he had that the vampire truly had a solution. "You see, if Patrick here had a willing attendant he would have no problem staying in the District with the rest of us." He seemed to shrug as he spoke, as if he had been waiting for the right time to strike with his information.

The Attendant Clause...Pete had entirely forgotten it still existed. The last time he had seen it in use was at least twenty years ago, but it would definitely work for what they needed it to.

"Are you really going to stand here and defend this, this-" The man at the table had an increasing amount of irritation in his voice, seemingly at his wits end with the group.

"What? Human? I believe I am, and I believe you're responsible for remaining civil and giving these people all the options that they're entitled to. You of all should know a thing or two about diplomacy." The man from the corner spoke once more, moving from his spot languidly over to the man at the head of the table and looking him dead in the eye as he spoke. The man at the table seemed to grow smaller, fumbling around for the right words to tell off the near vampire, but stopping dead in his tracks with a sigh.

"Have Mr. Stump read and initial the back page of the Holding packet to ensure that he's read it. Should you find and agree on a willing attendant we will return and amend the document with that clause. For now, the Council members have done their part, and Case 4873 is adjourned of Council presence." The man's irritation made every syllable scratch and claw at Patrick's ears, who was more confused now than ever as the Council members began standing and filing out of the stuffy room. Soon it was just Pete, Patrick, and the unknown figure who was making his way towards the door. The dark-haired man exchanged a nod with Pete, and the two smiled at each other before leaving Patrick and Pete alone.

"...Ok, would you mind telling me what the hell this attendant thing is about?"

The two sat down at the table as the door shut behind them. "Alright, alright, so essentially..." Pete gave a long-winded, far too informative explanation of what it was about. Apparently it had been a long time since anyone had called for it, but it allowed for Patrick to move and stay wherever in the city while being Held there, with one major exception.

"So I have to travel with and be watched over by this 'willing attendant'? Who has to be affiliated with the Council?" Pete nodded at Patrick's questions, now understanding why it hadn't been in use for a long time. With the tensions between the groups, few vampires were willing to keep watch on a human in Holding, and the original uses of the clause were generally victims getting revenge on their attackers by becoming their attendant. Patrick was still wildly confused as to how this was going to help them. "Where do think we're gonna find a Council affiliate wil-!? Oh." It took him a moment longer than it should have, thinking back to the beginning of their court meeting, and Patrick realized what Pete was saying. As a Council associate, Pete could take him on as his attendant.

Patrick could have sworn he was going to cry.

"You would do that?" There was genuine shock in his voice, and Pete reached out and grabbed Patrick's hands instinctively at the look of the other, before realizing quite what he was doing and releasing them, now leaning in more towards the human. 

"Of fucking course, we've still got to figure out what the-" Pete looked around nervously for a minute, checking to make sure the recording device was off, and they still hadn't managed to get cameras in these rooms. "hell is going on with you." He pointed to the others chest, and the two smiled at each other.

-

The day drug on, but Patrick didn't mind after coming to know he wasn't going to be chucked out to the younger vampires on the outskirts of town. He had papers to sign, and Pete had papers to sign. Eventually they were being ushered out of the building, obviously annoyed Council members ready to be done handling their case for now. As much as Patrick had appreciated Pete in all of his words, he couldn't get over how much he liked it when he said 'we'.

"We were lucky you know. If Gerard hadn't reminded me of the Attendant rule I would have been trading one shitty apartment for an even worse one, and I bet the others would ha-"

"Wait wait wait, Gerard? As in Way? As in-"

"heir to the monarchy? The one and only. Either he likes you or he still thinks he owes me." It was likely a mix of both if Pete had to guess, and Patrick had to wait in stunned silence as the two continued walking towards the apartment buildings. The unknown, dark-haired man who had single-handedly saved Patrick's ass was the infamous Vampire prince, next in line to take the crown, and Patrick saw where all the rumors came from. He certainly appeared intimidating, but Patrick didn't see how bad he could really be if he had stuck up for him in there. The notion that Pete would have moved with him to the outskirts was all but lost at the thought and relief that he had two respected vampire individuals with him. Before Patrick knew it they were back at building C, and his stomach was growling loud enough for Pete to hear.

"Come on, Andy or Dallon has probably made something by now." Pete went in ahead of him, and the familiar blood and coffee sent filled his nose. It wasn't as vile as it had been the first time he had been around it, and some part of Patrick was beginning to feel like he was home between those dingy walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops my hand slipped and gerard way is a vampire prince
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ what're you gonna do?
> 
> by the way, feel free to comment on this vampire trash party,  
> it really does make my day to know people are still enjoying this!


	8. pacing practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> halsey isn't home, and then she is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, feel free to comment and leave your support!  
> it helps me keep going with this <3

The environment they returned to was not what Patrick had expected in the slightest. Josh and Tyler were gone, and Joe and Andy were nowhere to be seen. Dallon was pacing around madly, hands on his chin, his face, running through his hair, waving in any unusual pattern that displayed the concern so present on his face. Brendon had commandeered the chair in the living room, his eyes transfixed on Dallon until the other two walked into the apartment. 

"Have you guys seen Halsey anywhere?" Dallon stopped his wandering in front of them, worry dripping from his words. Patrick shook his head, now worried. 

“No, woah, what's going on?” The worry had seeped into Pete's voice at this point as he attempted to get Dallon to look him in the eyes.

"She, She wasn't in the apartment, and usually she leaves a note or something, but she was just gone, and she hasn't come back yet and-"

"Hey, hey, Hals is a smart girl who can take care of herself. You of all of us should know that Dallon." 

"I'm-I'm gonna go back up there, wait in case she comes in." Dallon avoided eye contact no matter how much Pete tried to assess him, and made for the door behind the two of them, not making it all the way there before Brendon was speeding up behind him. He reached for Dallon's hand and grabbed it for a moment before Dal pulled away and left, shutting the door a bit forcefully behind him. Now it was Brendon's turn to scratch his head, the usually bubbly persona Patrick had known over the last couple days faltered becoming more distant as he turned to face them.

"He's been like that for a couple of hours. We went up to the apartment a few minutes after the council carted you guys off, and Halsey wasn't there. We waited a while before sending people to look, but I didn't, I didn't want him out there in the state he's in." Brendon looked off to the side as he spoke, voice not carrying quite as far as Patrick was used to.

"Shit, that long?" Pete could see where the worry had manifested, seeing as he and Patrick had been gone nearly seven hours, and it was unlike Halsey to up and leave without some notice. "You're welcome to stay here as long as he's, you know." Pete looked towards Brendon, and gestured to the door left closed by Dallon. Brendon nodded and walked past the two of them once again, hands in pockets, and sprawled out across the couch. Patrick hadn't known him long, but it was unsettling to see such a brightness brought to this.

-

An hour or two passed with Pete leaving and entering the apartment at random, and Brendon managed to fall asleep on the couch. Patrick twiddled his thumbs for the most part and flipped through some of the books on the coffee table which occupied the rest of his time. Luckily they were all music related, something he would have to ask Pete about later. He remembered asking if Pete needed any help, but gaining only a mumble in response, and before he knew it the sky was slowly beginning to lighten outside. Just as Patrick began to worry for Pete, he strolled through the door, followed by an exhausted Joe and Andy. Brendon sat up at the noise, clutching the arm of the couch and looking towards Joe and Andy for anything new on the Halsey situation. The two simply shook their heads before Joe spoke up.

"Josh and Tyler are still out there, but...we couldn't find her." His voice was softer, obviously in need of sleep, and at the words Brendon laid back down on the couch turning to the side where no one could see his face. Joe and Andy made their way up the stairs, and Patrick let out a yawn, suddenly posing a question in his mind. He looked to Brendon sprawled on the couch, throw pillow placed firmly over one of his ears as if to say 'do not disturb' and then over to Pete, standing a few feet away from the couch.

"Oh, uh, well, shit...um" Pete realized what Patrick was getting at with the nod of his head, trying to figure out where Patrick was going to sleep for the night. "Um, you can sleep in my room? If you want?" Patrick kind of shrunk into himself at the offer, unsure of how the bed situation would pan out and only assuming he meant they would share. "Oh no, um I'll take the floor, come on." Pete could see the taken aback blush beginning to creep onto Patrick's face and amended his statement with his words and a wild hand gesture before shoving his hands in his pockets and turning to head up the stairs. Patrick took a moment and followed behind. 

The room itself wasn't anything special, and what minimal spaces there were to put things were cluttered with random papers and objects. Pete grabbed some blankets from the closet and proceeded to begin making a palette type thing in the corner. Patrick climbed under the covers on the bed but immediately found he felt out of place. "Are you, are you sure this is alright? I don't think it's right to kick you out of your bed like this." Patrick voiced, turning on his side to get a better view of Pete across the room who smiled at his question.

"Well, it's not kicking me out if I willingly take the floor."

"I know, but I still don't feel good taking the bed like this." 

Pete stopped fluffing the blanket pile on the floor to look at Patrick. "Alright, but I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, so you can either get over it or I'll level with you."

"...Ok, continue?"

Pete picked up the two pillows from his pile on the floor and moved towards the bed, lining them up from the headboard til they reached about halfway down the bed. "Your side. My side. That good with you?"

"Yep, works for me." Patrick rolled over to where he was no longer looking at Pete, who maneuvered to turn the light off and then climbed onto the opposite side of the bed. The pillow squished between their backs, and Patrick was thankful the other couldn't see the blush forming on his cheeks. At some point their feet touched, and the two quickly pulled away from the sudden touch. Patrick found a similar comfort he had when he entered the building earlier in the night and found himself drifting off to sleep next to the other.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

"HEY ASSHOLES! DOWN HERE! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

Patrick jerked awake at the sudden voice thundering throughout the apartment, and he had little time to register the arm thrown over him, pillows between them abandoned before Pete was up and at em', shirtless and running down the stairs. In a sleepy haze, Patrick saw the sun setting outside, knowing this was incredibly early for most of the vampires, and it took him longer to realize it was Halsey's voices echoing throughout the apartment. He was next to last to make it down the stairs, Joe trailing behind him, but Halsey wasted no time. Her short blonde hair was somewhat frazzled, and her eyes looked more tired than any of the suddenly woken vampires combined. A pair of sunglasses were abandoned atop her head as she rushed over to the couch with a stack of three or four books in her hands, all ancient looking. Brendon, despite being closest to the commotion, seemed to be the last one to fully regain consciousness.

"Hals, what the-"

"Shove over and can it Bren we have problems. Big ones." She frantically began flipping through the top book in the stack.

Pete spoke up, rubbing his eyes and making his way over to the couch, leaning over it to curiously eye what she was up to. "Ash where were you, we were wor-"

"Stop right there old man. I've heard the whole spiel from Dallon already, and I don't need it again." She found the page she was looking for and continued on in the next book, brown leather and falling apart. "Like I said, problems, issues, all to do with that one." She gestured in Patrick's general direction as she found another page she was looking for, setting the book out in line with the other on the coffee table. It took her a few more moments, but now she had a group of more than interested and slightly worried vampires huddle around the table waiting for her to finish. She set the four books out in a square and looked up. Patrick was sitting directly across from her. "I don't know what you did, or what you were trying to do, but it didn't have a good result." She turned one of the books towards him, and the symbol burned into his chest stared back at him in sketch form. He found it in similar forms on every page she had opened to with different variations of text surrounding them, but every one of them had the same name written in or around the symbol. Patrick had to remind himself that his heart was still beating.

'BELIAL'

"These are all books or sections on demonology. I think-" Halsey took a deep sigh. "With a scar like that I think you may have summoned him."

Patrick had never heard a silence quite like that which followed that statement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did someone say: "convenient place for 'awkward sharing of a bed' trope"??
> 
> yes.
> 
> someone did.
> 
> it was me.
> 
> i said it.
> 
> look at them and their pillow wall.
> 
>  
> 
> oh shit yeah, also an important plot thing happened this chapter.


	9. options

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang has to face some facts. none of them are pleasant.

"W-what?" The shake in Patrick's voice only echoed the violent nature of his stomach doing somersaults in his body. He needed a moment, much longer than a moment, an eternity to comprehend what Halsey was trying to say to him as he stared blankly at the books in front of him. Their most likely story was that he, Patrick Stump, human with small bits of magical prowess who had been scared out his mind to stay outside past curfew growing up had not only stumbled upon vampire land in the last 72 hours, but done so after summoning a demon?

"Not just any demon, The Demon, one of them anyways. All these books say that the only way something as powerful as a prince of Hell can injure a human and be freed to the physical realm is if they are released from their cage by a magical incantation or ritual. And when they do, they leave their mark on whatever is closest." Halsey's words felt straight out of a horror movie, but Patick had the misfortune of knowing that they were very real. Everyone was looking at him now, staring intensely as if they were looking straight through his disarrayed appearance to the scorched mark scarred onto his chest.

"What the actual fuck" It wasn't really a question anymore, more a defeated statement driven by shock and fear. "Who-How, What" He continued struggling for words and was the only one the speak. "How the hell did this happen?! I'm fairly sure what I was trying to do didn't have anything to do with summoning actual Satan-"

"Belial." Halsey interjected quietly.

"Whoever the fuck! It doesn't matter because I didn't do it! Or I didn't try to-" Patrick didn't care at this point, or he cared a lot and it was manifesting as him not caring, but he couldn't tell.

"Trick, no one is blaming you for this right now, but we still need answers, more information, what, what spell was it?" Pete walked across the room scratching his head and reaching into the back of one of the kitchen cabinets pulling the small leather bound journal that Patrick recognized from it.

"Page twelve"

Pete fumbled with the smaller pages until he reached the twelfth, walking back into the living space and handing the book to Halsey, who seemed to most knowledgeable on this sort of thing. She studied it, pulling one of the books off the table and situation the two in her lap on the couch. Brendon was following along intently now that things had picked up and was peering over at the books in her lap. "Patrick where did you get this spell?"

"I, uh, I don't, someone gave it to me. I was talking about wanting to make a protection charm and he handed it over to me, why?"

Halsey proceeded to flip around in the book, one Patrick could see was something of a general occult and magical encyclopedia type thing, a mixture of different topics. "Someone tricked you. Whoever did it knew their stuff too, a few abnormal substitutions in your common protection charm with a larger amount of ingredients and a different incantation coincides with the ritual you did." She put the books back on the table facing him and turned one of them around so that he was looking at three different recipes. Patrick was in awe and confusion at the similarities between the rituals, although the incantation written in his spell book wasn't in any of the books. "Whoever gave you that charm had to have known the incantation for the ritual. They meant for you to summon Him." Everyone shared a similar look of concern or worry in varying degrees.

"Who the hell would that? Or know about this kind of thing?" Patrick was at a loss, at his wit's end. Who in their right mind wanted to or even knew how to summon one of the most powerful demons in all of hell?

"Pete, you don't think..maybe the site?" Andy and Pete were still standing behind the couch as Andy started to bring up his point.

"Fucking hell, is this what, is this what, would witches know about this stuff?" Pete fired back, now drawing the attention of everyone in the room away from Patrick.

"This is exactly what witches do, or did. This demon stuff is exactly what they tell us about when they talk about them." Andy returned with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Do you two care to share?" Brendon somehow managed a smile over the back of the couch, hoping to enlighten the rest of the group on whatever conversation Pete and Andy were having.

"Oh, right" Pete took a minute to collect himself, obviously thinking heavily on the subject at hand before continuing. "The Council, well, they found traces of what they think were coven grounds outside the city."

"Holy shit" Joe was the first to react.

"No fucking way, people trying to live on that land?" Brendon was equally confused. They all knew that land was left barren and dead, a dark purple turning charred black after the wars, and it had never regained its green full of life color.

"What?" Halsey was all shock in her voice, turning to look at Pete now. "No one's seen a witch in thousands a years. I mean we had heard rumors, but really?"

"Trust me, Council had about the same reaction, but there were signs of people living on the outskirts. Part of the reason we think it was witches is while technically you could survive out there, sustaining yourself would be a lot easier with powerful magic wouldn't it? We also found common spell components." Pete continued on to the crowd of shocked and confused. "But if there are witches, with knowledge of demons who have spent years waiting to get revenge on the human race, what if they put Patrick up to this? A perfectly good human target. These people, they could be trying to start another war! Or- Something worse." Pete was angry, and it was even scarier than Patrick had seen him earlier in the Council court room, a force Trick didn't want to reckon with. "Hals, what are our options with this thing?" His voice was full of defeat, head reeling with thoughts of what the council could do with this. They had one option: deal with it as quietly as they possibly could.

"Limited, and you aren't going to like them. We have time, surprisingly it can take months for a demon as powerful as this to resurface, but the process can speed up if more demons are summoned before him. So, we can find whoever put Patrick up to this and see if they have a better way out, or we make sure no more demons pop up and manage to kill a prince of Hell before he does irreversible damage to our plain of existence." For the second time that early evening Halsey quieted the room with her solemn words.

"So, by the looks of it, we either need to find and kick a coven's ass, or kill an elite demon from biblical times." Pete stood now, still angry, taking Patrick's spell book from the coffee table. "Fan-fucking-tastic." Pete summed up everyone's feelings on the subject pretty well in his frustrations as he headed up the stairs, not seeming to return after a while and leaving the rest of them to the silence.

"...Yep" Halsey awkwardly broke the silence, fumbling with her fingers now.

"Hey Ash, thank you for this. It, it might not be what we wanted or expected to hear, but we know a lot more than a few days ago." Andy put a hand on Halsey's shoulder for a moment as he spoke before pulling back and pulling Joe closer to him behind the couch, snaking an arm around the other vampire's waist. "I think we could all use some more sleep. We can reconvene in the morning and explain this to the other's." A nod seemed to pass around the room at everyone's tired eyes, and Halsey's generally upbeat 'could and would kick your ass' form slumped in a similar fashion to Brendon's, who reached out and grabbed her arm pulling himself in to put his head on her shoulder.

"Let's go home." Brendon moved his head to rest his chin on her shoulder and smile as she laid her head on his.

"We'll come over later tonight to talk more." Halsey said, collecting her books slowly as Brendon detached himself from her arm, and in a moment the two were leaving the apartment to return to Dallon a few floors above them.

Joe parted with Andy to head back up the stairs, and Andy took a long look at Patrick who was still situated on the floor. "He wouldn't mind you know, some company." Andy smiled at Patrick, gesturing with his head towards the stairs, and Patrick considered it for a moment, allowing Andy to begin up the stairs ahead of him before rising from the floor to make his way up the Pete's room. He lightly rapped on the door a couple times and waited a moment, and a moment more. Patrick almost decided it was a bad idea when there was a couch downstairs and prepared to turn and leave before Pete opened the door.

"Hey."

"Hey."

The two looked at each other pitifully, both disheveled and sleep-deprived and all too stressed to care much as Pete stepped out of the doorway to let Patrick in. They returned to the bed, not even bothering to replace the pillow wall between them as the last bits of sunlight still peaked through the window.

"Patrick, do you mind if I er-..." Patrick remembered their earlier position, waking up with an arm around his form.

"Um, yeah, go ahead." Pete snaked an arm around the human lazily, and Patrick felt the weight of everything that had just happened funneled into the arm around him. Now he was left a husk, emotionally drained, confused, dazed. He found himself wanting to cry but forced himself not to, not wanting to disrupt the vampire next to him who had already managed to fall asleep in minutes. 

Somehow he managed against the odds to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, comments are welcome < 3  
> happy father's day everyone!


	10. prowling for the sake of nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> patrick has a dream (it's upsetting skip to 'Patrick climbed' to get the only plot importance). pete makes an important phone call (or twelve). halsey, brendon, and dallon question the morality of killing witches, and everyone is filled on the shitty situation. (not in that order)

Patrick didn't sleep well. If only that wasn't an understatement, but it most certainly was. Patrick slept terribly, horribly, the worst he ever had in his entire human life (however short that had been thus far). It wasn't difficult to achieve when he had just learned he could be the cause of a demon outbreak across the city, or the start of the next big war. Trick thought he was safe tucked away in the comforting embrace of the vampire at his back, but not even Pete could keep him from the dark corners of his subconscious mind.

He felt too warm, and suddenly he was engulfed in flames. He felt like he was trapped on the track of a roller coaster cart, moving in spite of his own volition, and then the faces came. His family cowering in the blank fiery environment, Ryan bumping into him like he usually would but looking up eyeless and deadened, Brendon, Dallon, and Halsey chained together, beaten badly and expressionless, Tyler clutching the stilled form of Josh in his lap. No matter the scene Patrick's feet kept beneath him, relentlessly moving him forward. He wanted to stop and help, cry out, do something to stop the endlessly passing groups of people he knew who were in pain, but he couldn't. He could only keep going. It wasn't long until the groups faded from his vision as Patrick continued on his way, watching as there were only bones remaining around him. With what little control he had Patrick opted to stare at his feet, the black ashy ground below him, until even that freedom was taken from his dreaming state and forcing him to look upwards. Now he came to an opened gate beckoning him inside with two large pillars on either side. Patrick recognized Andy and Joe, expressionless and slumped up against them, but Patrick kept moving. Beyond the gate was something of a throne room hellish and horrible, but what some more wretched creatures would see as desirable. He did not take in the scenery for long before he saw the form of Pete, dragged out by a collection of vampires Patrick knew. The same mass that Pete had saved him from upon their meeting was treating him worse than they had Patrick, soft thuds landing on his hunched body, and Patrick stared longer than the others trying at great lengths to run and help or at least turn away. Soon enough he kept moving, spoke no words, shed no tears, not even as he felt a hand grasp his ankles and watched as Pete, usually so strong and reserved, attempted a plea. Patrick shook the hand away and moved towards the stairs to the throne. His head was screaming, as was his body, the flames licking up all sides of him as he wracked his brain for answers.

Patrick climbed the stairway to the throne, located seemingly at the end of this massive fiery hellscape. He felt himself fall to his knees at the top with his head looking down, and something sharp caressed the front of his neck, stopping at his chin to pull his head up. He felt control flood back into his body as he snapped his eyes shut, avoiding the glimpse of whatever was doing this. A hissing, sizzling sound filled his mind, too real to be a part of the nightmare any longer, and emanated as a voice.

_Soon._

"Patrick!" In a matter of seconds it was only Pete's voice ringing in his head as Patrick felt hands on him, one coasting over his forehead and one gripping his shoulder as he came to. "Are you okay? You were- what's going on?"

"I-I'm fine." That was lie, 100%, after whatever that was, dream, premonition, nightmare, he was extremely less than fine. "It was just a-just a dream, not a good one." He was making his way to sit up now, gently pulling Pete's hand away from his shoulder and instinctively giving it a light squeeze to prove his reassuring words before releasing and looking to the other's concerned gaze. Pete looked as though he was about to further question Patrick on the matter, but decided against it. Instead he studied Patrick a moment longer before looking away, feeling somewhat awkward with his hands as he found a place to rest them.

"Everyone will be here soon, to you know, explain to them." Pete nodded at Patrick, and Trick forced something of a smile in response, watching as Pete moved and disappeared out the door to the bedroom. Patrick let any mirage of being okay falter for a moment, letting out a deep sigh and falling into his hands, discovering that to be the exact opposite of what he needed in that moment. When he closed his eyes the echo of the ominous voice from his dream was all that returned to him, and he immediately decided against focusing on that. Instead he focused on making himself look a bit more presentable than he did.

-

 

Patrick arrived at the top of the stairs to the sound of voices in the main living area. Freshly showered, he felt better and pushed any remnants of his dream to the back of his mind as he descended the stairs. The group of people he had come to know were gathered about the living room space, carrying on their own conversations as Halsey laid out the things Patrick had seen earlier that evening. Patrick found himself disinterested in the group as he noticed Pete's absence and took a seat in the middle of the couch next to Dallon, right across from Halsey who knelt on the floor across the coffee table. Andy seemed to notice his confusion as Trick looked around the room absentmindedly, moving over the join the group as well.

"Pete had to make a call or two, but he said we could go ahead." Andy filled him in and leaned over the back of the couch, nodding at Hals to begin.

If Patrick were entirely honest he didn't hear a word she said, though he could only assume it was a more well put together version of what they'd been through earlier and something he likely needed to hear. Still, his head was back to swimming, reeling, more accurately drowning in his thoughts than he was being helpful to the conversation at hand. Words around him stalled about fifteen minutes later when Pete returned, wearing that same expression that could chill any human to the core, that silent anger bubbling up and beginning to express itself in his face.

"They found another. It's definitely witches this time, and they're getting worse at covering their tracks."

Everyone could hear something like an 'I'll kill them' under spoken under Pete's breath as he began up the stairs, holding his phone to his ear once more. Everyone looked around quizzically for their next move as Joe turned to follow Pete up the stairs, and the shock of everything seemed to wear off for a moment. The fear in the eyes of the group was prevalent everywhere Patrick looked, but especially in Josh and Tyler to his left. Demons. Witches. Hell, even Vampires, Patrick still didn't know how his life had managed to become this in only a matter of days.

Conversation returned more timidly, partly on the heavy subject matter of their demon, partly on the fact that there were actual real life witches living very near to society. It wasn't long until Joe came back down the stairs and joined Andy standing behind the couch.

"Pete is uh, well, he's working some things out, but he said it's going to take a while. Pretty much, well, he's trying to get permission to see the sites and look around outside of the walls." Joe fumbled around his words, but between his hand gestures and is verbal communication he got the point across. "He said he would let us know when he does, but it'll take a bit." Andy had snaked a hand around the other's waist as he spoke, and the group resumed looking around at each other.

"I think we'll head back to ours for a while." Brendon reached over and rubbed Dallon's shoulder from where he sat on the arm of the couch, and looked across the room to Halsey, who, despite the sleep she had managed to get, still looked dead tired. Patrick had noticed that strange complexion she had had when he first saw her had changed into the preserved pearly vampire tone he knew.

"I think we'll stick around if that's alright." Josh looked up from the back of the couch to Andy and Joe, and Tyler did the same. Tyler's legs were over the arm of the couch, with his head against Josh and one of Josh's arms over him. Andy smiled at him as if to give him a yes and pulled Joe a little closer. It seemed to be a running theme now that everyone knew about the other creatures running amuck and their potential for destructive tendencies. The trio had already slipped out the door, leaving the occult and demonology books on the coffee table where Hals had set them the past two times. The room filled with an anticipation-filled silence as the door closed with a thud behind them.

-

Brendon was clingier than usual, and Halsey would give it to him, that was an accomplishment. Still it was odd to see him so polite and cuddly with Dallon, especially when she was used to them being so rough and tumble. Ash suspected it had something to do with their spat during her absence, something she couldn't help but feel a hint of responsibility for. Brendon had never been the best at relationships, and Hals knew that better than anyone. In six years, she had heard the after-rambles of plenty of one night stands, and witnessed the dreadful after-effects at the end of plenty of relationships (one particularly nasty one with a human neither of them spoke of). Somehow between Bren's not-quite mastery of showing affection for people, and falling into Dallon's tall frame, the pair made things work exceptionally well. Halsey could understand the change in disposition, as he walked hand in hand with Dallon in front of her. Not every couple went through a fight only to find out hours later they could be faced with demons and witches in the near future, also, in the smaller girl's mind, somehow her fault.

She hoped they wouldn't notice her distant steps.

They definitely noticed.

The apartment door swung open, and Halsey and Brendon passed into their oddly laid out home, Dallon trailing in behind them. Hals made her way into the designated living space, an area of the apartment similarly separated by a set of dividers, with pillows making up the space on the floor. Dallon followed her and watched as she plopped down on the floor, back against the wall that put a window above her head, looking out onto the bright lights of the city in full swing at 3:00 A.M.

"Hey, you ok?" Dallon stood in the makeshift doorway, staring down at Halsey with a certain softness in his eyes. She sighed, clutching a pillow to her chest and deciding to make eye contact with the human.

"Yeah, just, it's a lot to think about." Dal made his way into the space at that, and say in the corner of the dividers. Within minutes Brendon was speeding into the space at his unnatural pace, but surprisingly enough held a tray in his hands when he did so, taking the corner nearest to Hals. Dallon reached for one of the two mugs on the tray as Brendon pulled a plain blood bag to his mouth.

"Woah wait you don't uh, you don't want that one." Brendon quickly abandoned his bag to switch the mugs, handing out the correct ones to the duo. Halsey knew what Brendon meant when she sipped her tea. The recently turned vampire had still yet to acclimate to the taste of blood properly, and the faint metallic traces in her favorite tea threw her off until she got used to it, attempting to focus on the honey and faint herbal flavors instead of the hint of copper hidden away in the glass. They sat in comfortable silence, sipping a few minutes away until Halsey spoke again.

"Do you really think he would, to the witches you know?" Halsey's question brought them back to the muttered statement under Pete's breath and the anger clearly outlined on his face from earlier as she delved back to the glass before her.

"I don't know. That's the angriest I've ever seen him." Dallon brought up with a sigh, seeming to catch on to some of what was bothering her.

"He is Pete. Anything's possible." A truer statement seemed rare in the walls of their apartment.

"It's just, It would be a shame, they've been gone for years, hundreds. Don't you think we could learn something from them? What business do we have killing creatures we thought were dead for so long?" She was at a loss, fearing what would happen if Pete really did aim to kill the coven.

"We could definitely learn a thing or two, but not if they're behind what's going on with Patrick. If they really mean us harm, want to start another war, deal with demons. Pete's probably on the right track." Dallon couldn't really get behind the idea of killing anyone, but he could see Pete's intentions when he meant to eradicate the witches.

"What if, on the off chance that they're simply hanging around the city, they aren't behind this?" Halsey asked curiously, mind wandering as she did so.

"Well, Pete'll need people to be there and help him get the facts straight." Dallon responded, looking around with a small smile.

"Why do you think he's bringing us along?" Brendon asked, toothy grin showing his fangs clear as day.

For the first time in a while Halsey smiled, tired and simple, but as honestly as she could.

-

It was an hour and a half of grueling waiting before the group reconvened in full in Pete, Andy, and Joe's apartment, awaiting Pete's news anxiously. Patrick looked around, everyone having assumed their previous positions around the room save for Joe and Andy, who sat wrapped up in the floor. Patrick could have sworn everyone was there when there was a knock at the door, peaking everyone's interest as Pete went to answer it. The light from the hallway illuminated the figure brilliantly and it took Trick a moment to realize who was standing in the frame, soon to be drawn into a hug by Pete. Long dark hair and pristine skin, but no longer in the suit Patrick had met him in, Gerard Way stepped across the threshold and out of the tight hug Pete had him in, a bright smile on the prince's face at the sight of everyone.

"Don't worry, Pete filled me in. My dad and his Council goons won't hear a word unless you think he needs to." Gerard wasted no time, pulling a chair into the living area and sitting all too casually in the space.

"Gerard, you should come to breakfast more often." Andy smiled and waved from the floor with a smiling Joe at his side, and Patrick was still getting over how casual everyone was being having actual vampire royalty waltz into their home.

"Believe me I'll try, anything to get out of that shit hole at the capital." Gerard rolled his eyes at his own mention of the building, and Trick admired how casual and disheveled the heir appeared. His properly kept appearance had been traded for a much more fitting appearance, a loose tattered T-shirt, some skinny jeans, and a mess of longer black hair on his head. It looked to Patrick like he was more natural in the simple vampire's apartment building than the capital building he had met him in.

"Between me, about twenty Council members, and Gerard we have access to the sites, with supervision and limited time, but, well, we have to leave soon." Everyone turned to Pete as he made his way to the living area.

"How soon is soon?" Tyler spoke up from the folds of his hoodie, making a confused expression Patrick would have laughed at if not for the circumstance.

"Tomorrow" The room stirred a little at that, looking around at each other. "One more thing, the sites are about a day apart, and we can't enter and exit the city while our goal is to look at them." The group was even slightly more alarmed at that mention.

"Hold on, back up, you said supervision? Do we have some Council schmuck babysitting us on all of this?" Josh asked, a look of dread appearing on his face only at that thought.

"Actually, I'll be taking you." Gerard piped up, grinning from ear to ear.

"No shit. How did your dad let you get away with that?" Joe asked.

"I'll have you know my dad has far less control over me than most people seem to think." Gerard sighed almost painfully at the mention of his father.

"So you're telling us we have to go camping for two nights and a day?" Halsey and most of the group looked at Pete with a look of pure confusion and amazement.

"With minimal protection from the sun and other bad things?" Brendon interjected.

"In the actual deadlands where no plant life survives?" Dallon added.

Pete nodded solemnly at the notions he had already thought of many times when trying to get them rights to see the witch sites. Everyone continued to look around for a few moments before Josh stood up, leaving Tyler to the couch.

"Alright, we'll go get packed."

There was a chuckle from the floor as Andy and Joe began to laugh, and Patrick hated to admit how confused he was at the suddenly brighter atmosphere of the room, more and more of the people in the room cracking smiles or beginning to laugh themselves. He was entirely astonished at the lengths these people were willing to go for the impending threat he had caused with one stupid mistake.

"You guys are fucking insane."

He couldn't help it.

He was smiling a little too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that couch has to be really big
> 
> also the trio doesn't own a couch because fuck it, deep conversations while staring at the ceiling
> 
> wo ok so i'll be real, i was in a slump there for the past few days (i dunno what happened, suddenly i hadn't written anything for anything in four days, and anything i tried to write was shit).
> 
> i hope reading through this chapter makes up for it, but i need you guys' opinion on something! did you enjoy the break from patrick's internal monologue description thing to get a feel for other character's in this bit? would you enjoy seeing more breaks every now and then? was it refreshing to get a new perspective or should i just stick solely with patrick to avoid confusion?
> 
> as always comments are welcome, especially with responses to the above for this chapter ^^ < 3


	11. trading old wounds

The next evening was a chaos quite unlike anything Patrick had ever witnessed. Pete returned to his absence, disappearing down the halls of the apartment building with the phone pressed to his ear and obviously busy making sure everything was in order for their excursion. Andy and Dallon made breakfast, as per usual, but there was no one group of people ever over to accommodate it. Members of their group came and went as they pleased, frantically scrambling about to make sure they had everything they thought was necessary. It was odd to Patrick how much it felt as though they were all going on a weekend retreat, not some horrible shit-show adventure to the one place no one ever wanted to get acquainted with: outside the city.

Patrick had seen it before, but only as most people had, from a distance. In the daylight it was the darkest scene one could lay eyes on, a vast expanse of blackened ground, long dead trees of a pitch coloring, and a strange hazy purple moss scattered in patches on the ground. Patrick couldn't imagine what it was like to be immersed in that, but he supposed he would figure it out incredibly soon.

It was a couple of hours into the evening before things began to wind down, stalling as people filed into the house with their bags and backpacks, looking like a deranged group of hikers at their best. Around 10:00 P.M. Gerard stood as a figure behind their door, entering the apartment in a similarly comfortable fashion as the previous night. Still, he seemed to make it there before Pete returned, and Patrick couldn't help but worry where the vampire had gotten off to in his endless array of phone calls. Not twenty minutes after Gerard walked in the door, Pete walked in, looking more tired than when he had gone to bed the previous morning. Patrick felt the need to say something, but Gerard was already making his way over with a worried look before he had the chance. Patrick heard only a few words of their conversation before he tuned out in an attempt to not be rude.

"Hey, everything alright?" Gerard had migrated towards Pete, arm extending to the other's for a moment enough to take in Pete's state before dropping back to his side.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just a lot..." Pete waved off Gerard's worries, though not entirely, with his words, and the two talked for a couple minutes longer before joining the group across the room.

Pete pulled yellow slips of paper out of his jacket pocket. "Everyone needs one of these. They'll check numbers at the gate and ask a couple questions, and you won't be able to get back in without it if we're separated from Gerard for whatever reason." Patrick looked up at him confused for a moment as he wasn't handed a slip, almost panicking at the thought of being left alone in the apartment throughout all of this. "Y-Yours will be counted with mine. I am your 'Attendant' after all." Pete seemed to sense something off in Patrick and quickly remedied the situation, explaining almost jokingly how his Attendant status affected their expedition as well. Pete gave him that smile that seemed to put him at ease and continued on. Between him and Gerard, the two who knew most about what was about to happen, the group was filled in and exiting the apartment within the next ten minutes.

Gerard took the lead, collecting strange looks in the streets as the group clumped together heading towards the outer reaches of the city. The walk was mostly quiet, the sudden silence driven either by the want to not draw more attention to their already suspicious appearance or by the dawning realization that they were all about to willingly do something as stupid as leave the safety of the city. Yet they drove effortlessly forward in the bustling night, when the vampire population rarely slept.

The gates on the outskirts of the city were one of the most daunting structures Patrick had ever come into contact with, and he had recently been submerged in the vampire capital building. He stuck closer to Pete than he had walking through the city as they approached. Gerard spoke to the various guards, who seemed rather on edge as the group stepped forward, calming them with his initial presence. As soon as he had explained they were passed through, one at a time ahead of Pete and Patrick who brought up the rear. Patrick was rather fidgety at the authoritative vampires staring him down as he stood slightly behind Pete who handed them the yellow slip of paper that represented them going on the outside. They asked a few questions, same as they had to everyone else, but Trick couldn't help but feel their glowering stares on him as they waved them through the open gate, knowing about his situation with Pete. The gate closed ominously behind them as the guards resumed their positions, unwavering in stance with guns to their sides. Outside of the city was much more real once Patrick was in it, and he didn't return to the distance from Pete he had kept within the city limits, preferring to be as close as he could while they were both still comfortable. The air was muggier, some form of condensation clinging to their forms the further they got from the bright beacon lights and walls encapsulating the vampire and human populations. Flashlights were soon turned on, and despite the open air around them, conversations barely crept above a whisper among them. A unanimous shiver covered by a blanket of uncertainty tainted the group's once confident behavior as they tread on unfamiliar ground.

Patrick did anything to distract himself from the darkness around. He focused on his heartbeat and when that got old the sky, shifting ever so slightly in the night as time went on, and he continued trading one distraction for another as he found himself settling on the gentle swish of Pete's arm brushing against his when they walked. Trick's thoughts began to wander to curious topics that had been pressing him ever since he had met Gerard, and he decided that with the gentle murmur of everyone else's conversations he would be safe to start his own.

"Hey, um, I was wondering, earlier back at the capital..." Patrick spoke slow and low, not wanting to draw in unwanted attention from the group and also checking to make sure Pete was engaged for a moment. As soon as he saw Pete's eyes he continued. "You said, well, you said Gerard might still think he...owed you for something?" It was a statement that had been nagging on Patrick since he had missed addressing it, but the two had been so caught up in a whirlwind of news since it had been difficult to find a good time. Patrick noted Pete's look of surprise as Patrick posed the question.

"That was...it was nothing. I just..I-" Pete's response was not at all what Patrick was used to, swamped with long pauses signalling a deep thought process underneath the other's words, but Patrick listened intently, still ever-curious as to what he did to win the favor of such an influential figure. "I helped his family out once, a long time ago." Patrick read over Pete's features, now feeling worse that he had a vague answer of sorts when he could have just kept quiet. Instead he had opted to drag something apparently long-dead in Pete's mind back to the surface. Patrick let the silence take hold again and walked with a little more space between the two of them.

It was around 3:00 A.M. before the group stalled to a stop, and Patrick almost didn't notice any difference in the ground below him as they did so. In the glint of his flashlight, a rather large portion of ground was flattened in a circular shape, and indents on the char black patch held pictures of square outlines, likely tents. 

"Site #1, already pretty much ransacked by The Council of anything useful, but doesn't hurt to check again." Gerard stopped, allowing the group to spread out with their lights and sending a nod in Pete's direction, who returned it wordlessly.

"Hey I've got something!" It was Josh who called out after about ten minutes of searching, across the circular formation on the ground, he squatted, Tyler holding both of their flashlights and standing not far behind him. The group quickly found their way around them, Pete and Hals joining Josh in kneeling to look at the ground. A few shards of glass, a couple of small feathers, and a sprinkling of light brown dust among some splinters of wood, it perplexed even Patrick a moment as their resident magic-user before it hit him what they could link to.

"Could be.. uh spell components? Maybe remnants of a potion bottle if they've got someone knowledgeable on that?" Halsey spoke before he could get the chance, and his confused gaze caught her as she stared intensely at the shard of glass she carefully held in her hand. She smirked a little at the look on his face. "Occult literature. Finally coming in handy." Patrick smiled a little at the sheepish looks round the group, obvious who had teased her for her choice reading in the past.

"Well, we don't have a lot of time, and the next site should be in better condition." Gerard hurried them along, and they resumed their trek into the vast dead space around them, the occasional purple fog clouding their vision for a moment.

The sun was already partially in the sky when they stopped again, tired glances around the group. Patrick looked up to see the various states of them. Directly in front of Pete and Patrick, Dallon had his arm wrapped around Brendon's shoulders, and Brendon reached out on his left to give Halsey's arm a squeeze. Ahead of the trio stood Tyler and Josh, arm in arm behind Joe, Andy, and Gerard, carrying on an inaudible conversation at the head of the group. Patrick noticed the fatigue worsen among his vampire colleagues as the sun advanced above them, the discomfort prevalent on their faces as it began its weakening affect, and knowing well that they would all be asleep by then back home. Despite the dreaded daylight, the second site of the witches was far different than the barren outcropping in the grass, though Patrick could only see it at a distance where they stopped. Gerard stopped, and Trick found that even with the sun slowly having its way with the vampires, Gerard managed to keep this similar air about him. He took a long look around the group before he spoke.

"We don't know much about this site, Council hasn't gotten to properly go through it, but we should camp and rest before we investigate." Gerard's words went unopposed as those with heavy packs took them off their shoulders.

"Yeah, definitely don't need to go there like this." Joe was fishing through the pack Andy had just sat down, and Patrick and Pete couldn't have agreed more. If the witches were set on hurting them, that abandoned site wouldn't be anywhere near safe.

The sun had only reached a tad further in the sky when the group settled down, rather uncomfortably piled into two large tents. They weren't as effective at keeping out the sun's rays as the vampires would have liked, but most did feel the affects lessen. Between the environment, the cold ground beneath him, and the abundance of people in such a small area, Patrick's sleep was far from restful, but despite those disturbances the weight of the travel and just how early in the day it was pulled him into some kind of sleep.

When he awoke, there were less people in the tent, Pete notably, who had been next to him was missing, and with that Patrick was drawn from it as well. The other tent had already been broken down on the hill top, and from what Patrick could see, the sun was just beginning to duck down in the distance. Patrick could see the initially missing form of Pete, a ways off from the group, keeping to himself with something of a dark tired look on his face. Not long after Patrick, the other sleeping members of his tent were awake and disassembling the mass of fabric and metal, feebly attempting to squish it back into Andy's pack. Food was minimal for the two human members of their party, but it was enough to keep them going, and as he and Dallon finished their little meal Pete was making his way back to them. Patrick looked up to eyes that practically screamed Pete hadn't gotten much sleep and felt a pang of guilt somewhere in his gut.

"We have to be careful today. We're seeing this site before most of the Council does, so they'll notice if something seems wrong...but" Pete looked across to Gerard for a moment. "If you find anything important related to the witches whereabouts, or Patrick's case, we'll be able to cover our tracks." Pete took off after his words, walking by himself ahead of the group. Patrick hated the space he had put between himself and everyone else since their conversation but allowed him to take up the lead anyway. Trick soon felt another presence by his side and, half-expecting Joe or Andy, found himself surprised to see Gerard on his right, walking silently beside him towards the witch site. By the time they arrived, the moon was distinctively rising, and Patrick noted how the vampires seemed to relax as it did so. They all fanned out in abstract directions and cautiously began their inspection. Patrick came to find that not only was this site much larger than the one they had previously visited, but it was certainly more recent. It appeared as though whoever had inhabited it had left in a rush, certain tents still kind of standing, and one fully in tact on the outer edge of the flattened circle. Patrick took to an edge no one had chose and found himself poking through partially charred remains of two or three books. Though more startling than the ancient languages and various spell components he could decipher on some of the part-pages was the form of Gerard hunkering down in front of him suddenly. Patrick never thought her would stick around like he was and soon discovered he was starting at the other before catching himself and returning half-heartedly to the pile of papers.

"You don't have to worry about us you know, me and Pete." Patrick snapped his head up as Gerard spoke, the prince not even bothering to pretend to sift through the papers, and clearly looking off in Pete's direction before turning back to Patrick.

"Why...would I be?" Confusion was the best word to describe Patrick's tone as he attempted to figure what the other was getting at with his statement.

"Never mind about that," Gerard's smile only added to Trick's confused stare, but he dropped it as he continued speaking. "I'm, well, I'm assuming the two of you spoke? About his "favor" as he calls it?" Patrick nodded.

"How did you-"

"Because this is how he gets when he's thinking about it too much." To have it said so matter-of-fact put Patrick more worried about Pete than before, to think that this was a common occurrence brought on by whatever situation Patrick had pulled to the forefront of Pete's mind only spiked the guilt in him.

"W-What happened?" Patrick pushed for whatever information he could, hoping to avoid mentioning it to Pete in the future.

There was a pregnant pause as Gerard's gaze flickered to Pete for a moment and then back to Patrick with a sigh. "My brother-"

"Hey guys!" Patrick heard Joe's voice ring out across the campsite, cutting Gerard off as he began.

"Wait, Tyler be care-" Halsey's voice followed suit, the frantic nature bringing both Gerard and Patrick to their feet. Patrick began making his way towards the tent where the voices were coming from but felt Gerard's hand forcefully grab his arm, something not right about the situation.

There was silence for a moment.

Then Patrick felt the ground slam into his front.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop had to interrupt tragic backstory for tragic Plot
> 
> as always, comments are welcome! feedback pretty much keeps me going when i write.


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